Israeli military planes struck two media headquarters in Gaza City in the early hours of Sunday morning, injuring six people including a cameraman, who lost a leg.

A number of media organisations are based in the al-Shawa building, including al-Quds television, which is associated with Islamic Jihad. Khader al-Zahhar, a cameraman with al-Quds TV, had his leg amputated as a result of injuries sustained in the attack.

A second air strike struck another media complex in the city, the al-Shuruq building. It houses Sky News, the al-Arabiya news network, Dubai TV and an office of al-Aqsa TV, which is affiliated with Hamas.

Sky News reporter Sam Kiley was sleeping in the offices when the missile struck shortly before 7am. "The missile hit the floor above us. There was a big flash of light and the sound of breaking glass."

In a statement, the Israeli Defence Forces said: "A communications antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity against the state of Israel, was … targeted."

"The second site was targeted at approximately 6.50am and was also part of Hamas's operational communications that was deliberately located on the roof of the building, in which several international media bureaux reside.

"The IDF calls on international journalists and correspondents who operate in the Gaza Strip carrying out their duties, to stay clear of Hamas's bases and facilities – which serve them in their activity against the citizens of Israel."

The Palestinian death toll since the war began last Wednesday topped 50 after a night of sustained bombing. Seven civilians including five NEW children were killed in overnight bombing, a Gaza health official said. Two of the children were killed and 12 people injured when two houses were struck in northern Gaza.

Shells fired from Israeli gunboats positioned off the coast pummelled Gaza for an hour in the middle of the night, causing massive explosions.

There appeared to be a lull in rocket fire out of Gaza overnight, but air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Ashdod on Sunday morning. Israel's Channel 2 reported that rocket fire aimed at Tel Aviv was intercepted by an Iron Dome defence battery.

Israel opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow medical and humanitarian supplies into Gaza

In attacks on Saturday, Israel destroyed the house of a Hamas commander near the Egyptian border.

Casualties there were averted however, because Israel had fired non-exploding missiles at the building beforehand from a drone, which the militant's family understood as a warning to flee, witnesses said.

How did I know a new thread would start immediately after my carefully crafted brilliance?

---

Having decided that this nation has passed the point of no return, I was innocently listening to an old Harland Williams (The Harland Highway) podcast, another crazy Canuckistanian Actor and Comedian, when the bastard started ranting about this:

...more proof that our offspring are goners, as far as living in a free country is concerned.

El Paso native Jesus "Chito" E. Diaz Jr. lost his career with the U.S. Border Patrol and ended up with a felony conviction after an encounter three years ago with a Mexican teenage drug smuggler on the South Texas border.

On Oct. 20, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludham sentenced Diaz to 24 months in prison for depriving a 15-year-old Mexican citizen of his constitutional rights under color of law. Diaz was accused of pulling off the handcuffs on the boy, an admitted drug smuggler, slamming him to the ground, and pressing the youth's back with his knee. Diaz pleaded not guilty in his trial in February to one count of excessive force and five counts of lying to internal affairs officers.

The National Border Patrol Council, which represents more than 17,000 Border Patrol agents, and the Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council, an advocacy group, contend that Diaz was unfairly targeted for prosecution and that his case's outcome sets a bad precedent for other agents who serve on the front lines.

"This case continues the tradition of bias against Border Patrol agents in the Western District of Texas," the National Border Patrol said in a statement Thursday. "Diaz's actions did not rise to the level of a crime ... While the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Texas has a job to do, one that includes prosecuting the criminals who commit crimes, it has shown a distinctly quick trigger in going after Border Patrol agents."

Diaz, 33, who is in custody, could not be reached for comment. His wife, Diana Diaz, a Border Patrol supervisor in Del Rio, Texas, said her husband should not be in prison. "I am speaking only as his wife when I say that 'Chito' does not belong in jail," she said. Diaz Jr. attended El Paso Community College and also has a brother who serves in the Border Patrol and other relatives in El Paso. He and his wife have six children.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Professional Responsibility cleared Diaz of any wrongdoing in the 2008 incident. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Attorney's Office proceeded against Diaz.

Andy Ramirez, president of the LEOAC, said he believes the U.S. government went forward with the charges against Diaz to appease the Mexican government. The Mexican consulate in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, where the juvenile lived, submitted a complaint alleging that Diaz had mistreated the boy while in the agent's custody.

Rarmirez said GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., have offered to help Diaz. Gov. Rick Perry, also a presidential nominee hopeful for the Republican Party, declined to get involved.

"Casualties there were averted however, because Israel had fired non-exploding missiles at the building beforehand from a drone, which the militant's family understood as a warning to flee, witnesses said."

---

Next they'll come up with a discriminating condom over the warhead, that detects civilians and prevents the explosive seed from inseminating innocents with supersonic metallic DNA fragments.

Propaganda is part of the war machine and so is the portrayal of the eternal victim. We just saw the results of six months of media manipulation and propaganda by the US media to elect Obama. Victimhood won the election for Obama.

Do you hold Israeli politicians up as paragons of virtue, truth and the American way? Are Palestinian politicians more noble than their American or Israeli counterparts? No, they are not. Who pays the bills in property and lives, the same as always. Open your eyes.

The UK Foreign Minister just said this current round was all the fault of Hamas, while saying he hoped Israel would not invade, as they might 'lose international support'. How they can lose what they don't have, or have little of, I don't know. But that's what he said.

Foreign Secretary: Hamas to blame for Gaza crisisForeign Secretary William Hague urged both Israel and the Palestinians to make efforts to halt the violence in Gaza today, but made clear that he believes Hamas bears the greatest responsibility for the current crisis, as well as the ability to bring it most swiftly to an end.Telegraph News

By Telegraph reporters

9:30AM GMT 16 Nov 2012

Mr Hague was speaking during a brief lull in the violence as Egyptian prime minister Hisham Kandil visited the enclave, which has seen a deadly exchange of rockets and airstrikes in recent days.

Prime Minister David Cameron last night spoke by telephone with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation following Israel's assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the Hamas military chief, in a drone strike on his car on Wednesday.

Downing Street said that the PM made clear that Hamas bears principal responsibility for the crisis, but called on Israel to do everything it could to avoid civilian casualties.

The conflict has been intensifying over recent weeks, but flared up dramatically in the wake of the Israeli strikes against senior Hamas figures.

Hundreds of rockets have been fired into Israel, with three people killed in the town of Kiryat Malachi - about 15 miles north of Gaza. Palestinian militants also fired rockets at Israel's commercial and cultural capital Tel Aviv for the first time.

Gas giant planets such as Jupiter (pictured above) and Saturn may contain large amounts of metallic hydrogen (depicted in grey) Metallic hydrogen is a state of hydrogen which results when it is sufficiently compressed and undergoes a phase transition; it is an example of degenerate matter. Solid metallic hydrogen is predicted to consist of a crystal lattice of hydrogen nuclei (namely, protons), with a spacing which is significantly smaller than the Bohr radius. Indeed, the spacing is more comparable with the de Broglie wavelength of the electron. The electrons are unbound and behave like the conduction electrons in a metal. In liquid metallic hydrogen, protons do not have lattice ordering; rather, it is a liquid system of protons and electrons.

Hamas Rocket Squads Aim at Jerusalem Hamas rocket squads aimed at Jerusalem for the first time Friday, along with Tel Aviv. The air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem after the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The holy city is located about 75 km. (47 miles) from Gaza. No injuries were reported. (AP)

See also Hamas Rockets Land Near Jerusalem Hamas says its al-Qassam Brigades fired three missiles at Jerusalem on Friday, including one at the Israeli Knesset. A Ma'an reporter in Bethlehem observed a trail from a rocket above the city shortly before a blast was heard. Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket landed in the area of Gush Etzion. Residents of the Palestinian village of Kisan, in the Tekoa district, said rockets landed around 100 meters from their homes, resulting in some damage to the houses. (Ma'an News-PA)

See also Gazans Watch with Pride as Hamas Targets Jerusalem Gazans have been watching with gleeful pride as Hamas militants fire rockets deeper than ever into Israel, targeting Jerusalem for the first time. "I never liked Hamas, but I wished I could kiss the forehead of the one who fired the rocket on Jerusalem," Saed Moaserji, 19, from Jebaliya in Gaza, said Saturday. (AP-Fox News)

"Residents of the Palestinian village of Kisan, in the Tekoa district, said rockets landed around 100 meters from their homes, resulting in some damage to the houses."

Even Saddam Hussein, when he led Iraq, avoided targeting Jerusalem when he aimed Scud missiles at Israel during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, not wishing to inadvertently destroy Muslim shrines or hit Arab neighborhoods.

Despite three days of repeated Israeli aerial assaults on suspected stockpiles of rockets in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said more than 100 were fired into Israel on Friday, apparently including Iranian-made Fajr-5 projectiles that Israeli officials say are the only ones in the Hamas arsenal with a range that can reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

But Mr. Petraeus wasn't responsible for lax consulate security or the U.S. policy that led to the Libya debacle. That's Mrs. Clinton's bailiwick. Last month in interviews from deepest Peru, the Secretary of State said "I take responsibility" for Benghazi.

Except she hasn't. She was conveniently out of the country for this week's House Foreign Affairs hearing, and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry refuses to hold any hearings on Benghazi. His loyalty may get him a cabinet job, while Carl Levin's Armed Services Committee also pretends nothing much happened in Libya...

But U.S. Libya policy has been her handiwork, and with the exception of the fall of Gadhafi it is a notable failure. Mrs. Clinton is also a main architect of U.S. policy in Syria, which continues to descend into disorder that may engulf the region. She shouldn't get a free pass from Congress."

If the compouind was designated a 'consulate' by State then it was her responsibility. The State Department personnell that were there meeting with the Turkish ambassador were her responsibilitry. Since people who died worked for State, it would have been more her responsibility to offer an explanation of what happened than Susan Rice who in Obama's words "had nothing to do with Benghazi." Not only did Hillary accept no blame for Security at Benghazi she continued to offer the video up as the reason for the attack while talking to the wife of one of the dead.

Hillary is either completely clueless or just covering her ass like everyone else right now.

Accepting responsibility is not accepting blame. To date, no one has accepted blame for not having adequate security, with the possible acception of Charlene Lamb, well kinda, sorta, naw..., I guess she really didn't either. It's all been finger pointing and denials.

Well, I can understand how the concept is a little nuanced for you, Ruf.

Let me try it this way, if everyone says they accept responsibility (Obama, Hillary, Panetta, Lamb) then you might as well say no one has accepted responsibility, its just the system. Yet, clearly it was a policy decision made by someone and implemented by Lamb. Why was the policy decision made and by whom?

The compound was not listed as a consulate, Q.Which centers the essence of the Murdock Press piece on a falsehood.

The "blame" for Benghazi lies with the Libyans or foreign fighters that attacked it, not on any one of the myriad Federal designated as "responsible".

Since the compound was not a consulate, State Department security personal and their funding would not have been an issue.

Whether or not Hillary publicly accepted responsibility is meaningless fodder for the pundits.It was General P who dropped the ball and is out of the command loop. Whether he claims it was about an affair of the loins or incompetence in the field in Benghazi, of little import.

If you care to believe any of the many cover stories that have been fabricated to cover the clandestine operations in Libya, feel free.

On the one side (Commentary) he is criticized for offering support to Hamas and other radical groups in the ME through support of political support of groups in Egypt and Libya and through his failure to act in Syria.

On the other hand, Jeff Greenwald (Guardian) blames him for his unstinting political and material support of Israel which Greenwald claims allows Israel to act with impunity.

And now comes “Dave” Petraeus, and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. No matter how good he looked in his biographer-mistress’s book, it doesn’t make up for the fact that we failed to conquer the countries we invaded, and ended up occupying undefeated nations.

The genius of General Petraeus was to recognize early on that the war he had been sent to fight in Iraq wasn’t a real war at all. This is what the public and the news media — lamenting the fall of the brilliant hero undone by a tawdry affair — have failed to see. He wasn’t the military magician portrayed in the press; he was a self-constructed hologram, emitting an aura of preening heroism for the ever eager cameras...

The generals who won World War II were the kind of men who, as it was said at the time, chewed nails for breakfast, spit tacks at lunch and picked their teeth with their pistol barrels. General Petraeus probably flosses. He didn’t chew nails and spit tacks, but rather challenged privates to push-up contests and went out on five-mile reveille runs with biographers...

I think that is a little too tough on Petraeus. He wasn't, after all, given the entire power of our nation to work with, nor endless time, nor the number of troops of his choosing. Obama scaled back the request for Afghanistan, IIRC.

Petreaus was wedded to COIN and to the surge. Obama had requested alternatives to choose from on Afghanistan and waited for eight months before Petreaus finally gave him one, the surge. When Obama asked if there were any other choices, he was told it would take more time to develop them.

Petraeus cornered Obama and forced the decision.

Besides, the surge has been a significant failure in Afghanistan. More troops would have just made it a bigger failure. Don't you remember how Petreaus was going to capture all those major towns and then deliver "government in a box' from the capital. That was in 2009. When's the last you heard of that concept?

There is more of this same risible name-calling, including the truly astonishing claim that Petraeus is too concerned with his personal appearance (“never has so much beribboned finery decorated a general’s uniform”)–as if Petraeus were remotely in the same league as Patton who was known for his riding breeches, highly polished helmet, and ivory-handled pistols.

Petraeus’s Phony CriticsMax Boot

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/11/17/petraeuss-phony-critics/

I recall Obama waiting forever to make up his mind and then downsizing the request.

First, to the subject of the $300 million. Where did the $300 million come from? First, there is no budget. Every one that Obama has sent has been dead on arrival and although the GOP (Ryan) submitted one it was never approved. The proposal the GOP did send included significant cuts across the board in most departments including State.

What the Dems did is take the total allocation cuts and assign $300 million to a cut in embassy security. However, that is pure bullshit since Ryan's are macro budget allocations, they don't dictate how the total amounts are allocated within the individual department buckets. That's up to the allocation committees. State could have prioritized and allocated their total bundle in any way they wanted. And what is more important than the security of your personnell?

Besides this is all a sideshow anyway. When undersecretary Charlene Lamb, the lady at State who has direct responsibility for embassy and consulate security, was asked directly in Congressional hearings if funds (money, budgets) in any way influenced the decisions on the amount of security in Benghazi, she said, "No."

Two of the committees are in the Senate and they are majority Democratic with Democratic Chairmen.

Diane Feinstein, Chair of the Senate intelligence Committee, has been one of the most vocal in demanding to know the details about the 'talking points', how they were edited, and who was involved in deciding what the message to the public would be.

Had the administration not mislead the public initially or had they explained why they said what they did (national security, etc.) this would never have become the circus it is now. However, it has been over two months and we are still not clear on anything, merely a lot of conflicting stories about the same incident.

Rufus doesn't want any questions asked, much less answered. He just want it go go away.

I want to hear from General Ham.

This comes from an interview with Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommittees relaying the responses from General Carter Ham heading up the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) who had direct responsibility for the situation.

General Ham told Chaffetz that the forces were available, but that no order to use them was given. Defense Secretary Panetta had claimed that the refusal to use force had come from him, General Dempsey and General Ham.

General Ham appears to have broken with that story and is taking no responsibility for the decision not to bail out the consulate and the Navy SEALS.

John Svengali ·Caution should be applied in not jumping to conclusions and reliance upon internet rumors and conversations. That said, there is AMPLE information in plain view and not in dispute that points not only to a lack of leadership by Obama and his civilian chain of command but to a pattern and practice of lying to the American people, covering it up, and creating a straw man with the Mohammad film-maker.

The administration's negligence is in at least two areas, preparation and failure to rescue. The hard part to believe about any presidential administration is that they would be so completely inept in failing to provide adequate security - even denying requests for security - but what's worse is that they knowingly denied help in the midst of an actual attack. How could anyone be so cold and insensitive to fly off to Las Vegas for a political fundraiser immediately after this attack and killings in Libya, as Obama did? It is not hyperbole to characterize the negligence - according to some - as criminal.

The subsequent cover-up using high level officials and the president in his U.N. address and his interview double-speak to steer focus to an unrelated anti-Muslim film is completely over the top and sinister. People should be troubled by the ease and comfort the man has in lying and perpetuating the false film story over the span of two weeks, only ceasing when the story fell apart when fact was interjected. Obama still tries to hide behind the fig leaf of not commenting due to the matter being investigated.

Until Friday, there were two possible explanations for why the White House failed to immediately call the Benghazi attack an act of terrorism. One was incompetence, the other was worse.

Now there is only one, and it is the worse one. Based on the persuasive testimony of ex-CIA boss David Petraeus, it is clear the Obama administration made a deliberate decision to mislead Congress and the American people.

The repeated claim that the attack was spontaneous and grew out of a demonstration against an anti-Islam video — a claim made by the president and secretary of State as they stood next to the bodies of four dead Americans — was a monstrous lie. It was vile and done for the basest of reasons.

Because we now know the truth of what happened — CIA reports were edited to remove the names of al Qaeda groups involved in the attack, Petraeus said under oath — we also know the motive. It was political self-preservation, meaning the president and his team put politics first.

The timing helps tell the tale. Just days removed from his Charlotte convention, where he danced on the grave of Osama bin Laden and boasted that al Qaeda was decimated, Obama couldn’t bear to admit that affiliated groups were thriving in North Africa. And he certainly couldn’t admit they had carried out a murderous attack on our consulate on the 11th anniversary of the most awful day in American history.

To do so would be to acknowledge the failure of his decision to ignore hard-line Islamists and (((that his team had erred egregiously in rejecting pleas for more security from Libya Ambassador Chris Stevens.)))

So the president lied, including in a speech to the United Nations, where he cited the video as the reason for the attack. He sent out reams of flunkies to do the same, including his snide press secretary, Jay Carney.

Most notably, UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on five Sunday television shows to spin the nonsense about the hijacking of a demonstration — a demonstration that never existed. Rice made a fool of herself, and now, she, too is damaged goods.

Oddly, Petraeus, brought down by the reckless affair with his biographer, nonetheless looks like the only honest man in the drama.

A briefing he gave soon after the attack is now more suspect because it adhered to the party line, despite his belief that it was always a terrorist attack.

But Friday in his testimony behind closed doors, Petraeus told the truth as he knew it, even though the administration announced the day before that it was investigating his conduct at the CIA.

If that was meant to pressure him to protect the president, it failed spectacularly. Whatever his personal failings, Petraeus reinforced his reputation for professional integrity.

The next move is up to Congress. While Democrats are predictably and shamefully trying to deny the significance of Petraeus’ revelation, Republicans say they are determined to get the full truth, wherever the hunt takes them.

Especially as the president begins a new term, and huge economic and tax difference must be resolved, the country would be better served if the administration co-operates. But their behavior up to now does not make that seem likely. Having built their web of lies, it would be hard to suddenly come clean.

The first tests will come with the next round of hearings. Any attempt by the White House to block the appearance of any official who played a role in shaping the false narrative should be seen as proof that the stonewalling continues.

In that case, the full power of the constitution must be brought to bear. Nobody is above the law, even the president.

Military theorists and strategists like Sun Tzu have viewed attrition warfare as something to be avoided. In the sense that attrition warfare represents an attempt to grind down an opponent through superior numbers, it represents the opposite of the usual principles of war, where one attempts to achieve decisive victories by using minimal necessary resources and in minimal amount of time, through maneuver, concentration of force, surprise, and the like.

On the other hand, a side which perceives itself to be at a marked disadvantage in maneuver warfare or unit tactics may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponent's advantages. If the sides are nearly evenly matched, the outcome of a war of attrition is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory.

The difference between war of attrition and other forms of war is somewhat artificial, since war always contains an element of attrition. However, one can be said to pursue a strategy of attrition when one makes it the main goal to cause gradual attrition to the opponent eventually amounting to unacceptable or unsustainable levels for the opponent while limiting your own gradual losses to acceptable and sustainable levels. This should be seen as opposed to other main goals such as the conquest of some resource or territory or an attempt to cause the enemy great losses in a single stroke (e.g. by encirclement and capture).

Historically, attritional methods are tried when other methods have failed or are obviously not feasible. Typically, when attritional methods have worn down the enemy sufficiently to make other methods feasible, attritional methods are abandoned in favor of other strategies. In World War I, improvements in firepower but not communications and mobility forced military commanders to rely on attrition, with terrible loss of life.

Attritional methods are in themselves usually sufficient to cause a nation to give up a non-vital ambition, but other methods are generally necessary to achieve unconditional surrender.

It is often argued that the best-known example of attrition warfare was during World War I on the Western Front.[2] Both military forces found themselves in static defensive positions in trenches running from Switzerland to the English Channel. For years, without any opportunity for maneuvers, the only way the commanders thought they could defeat the enemy was to repeatedly attack head on, to grind the other down.[3]

Attritional warfare in World War I has been shown by historians such as Hew Strachan to have been used as a post hoc excuse for failed offensives. Erich von Falkenhayn later claimed that his tactics at Verdun were designed not to take the city, but rather to destroy the French Army in its defense. In practice the German Offensive was intended to go as far as possible and had no obvious design to minimize German casualties and maximize French casualties. Attrition was therefore used later in the battle to shift the focus away from Falkenhayn's tactical failure, rather than a goal of the battle itself.

Attrition to the enemy was easy to assert and difficult to refute, and thus may have been a convenient face-saving exercise in the wake of many indecisive battles. It is in many cases hard to see the logic of warfare by attrition because of the obvious uncertainty of the level of damage to the enemy, and of the damage that the attacking force may sustain to its own limited and expensive resources, while trying to achieve that damage.

That is not to say that a general will not be prepared to sustain high casualties while trying to reach an objective. An example in which one side used attrition warfare to neutralize the other side's advantage in maneuverability and unit tactics occurred during the latter part of the American Civil War, when Ulysses S. Grant pushed the Confederate Army continually, in spite of losses, confident that the Union's supplies and manpower would overwhelm the Confederacy even if the casualty ratio was unfavorable; this indeed proved to be the case.[4]

The "delaying" tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus "Cunctator" against Hannibal Barca during the Second Punic War. Battle of Actium of 31 BC during the Roman civil wars The Hungarian resistance against the Mongols 1241–1242 The Đại Việt Empire (now known as Vietnam), three repulsions of Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan and the last Khan of the Mongol Empire) in 1258, 1285 and 1288 The American strategy during the American Revolutionary War The French invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812 Trench warfare in the American Civil War, notably the Siege of Petersburg Trench warfare in World War I, including the Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Verdun and many others Tonnage war in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II The Air battle for Great Britain in World War II after the bombing of London Static battles in World War II, including Soviet urban defense during the Battle of Stalingrad Battles of Rzhev (1942–1943) The final two years of the Korean War The Vietnam War (Body count) The "Long War" during the Provisional IRA's armed campaign against the British Army during the Troubles. The Israeli-Egyptian War of Attrition from 1967–1970. The Soviet war in Afghanistan The War in Afghanistan (2001–present) The 2011 Libyan civil war is arguably an example of attrition warfare.[5] The Mexican Drug War, where the Mexican government seeks to fatally weaken the cartels.[6] The Syrian Civil War[7]

We'll see. Paula Broadwell's father, from his farm outside of Bismarck, ND, says much more to emerge.

Which leads to "open season on generals" and very probably, "open season on the military" which means "the American military." The soldiers are having problems too: rape, psychological problems relating to depression ans suicide, influence of unreconstructed gang members, Abu Ghraib type of misconduct, etc.

All of which is under civilian control from Washington politicians.

Makes the Mash venue look like Mother Goose.

I will be very surprised to see the "what went wrong" forensics indict one person, or even one group of players. Something along the lines of you can't go slumming in hell without getting burned. The MIC is ... big and well-funded ... and dispersed.

I read that Petraeus experienced a very difficult transition from the military into his role as DCIA. His rigid disciplinary manner not well received by ... someone or some group of someones. So the public is presented with two conflicting narratives: the serious professional and disciplined military man vs the pampered general with a 28-cop escort to party-town.

We'll see. I suppose it's about time for some stateside action. Long Wars adding their own chapters to the history of armed conflict.

I took the long meandering path to this point: blaming the generals is invigorating and seemingly well deserved, but the entirety of the Long War of Attrition concept pretty much condemned anyone with any assignment of consequence - military or civilian.

I think the "goodness of democracy" argument has been abandoned, at least temporarily, but the twin pillars of Israel and Oil seem to alternate as lightning rods for violence in the ME.

I raised the prospect as a hypothetical at BC that, had the State of Israel been located somewhere else - Texas or North Dakota, violence might have declined, at a minimum, the problem would have reduced to simpler form. Talk about lumpentariat springing to life.

Considering that the politicians we elect do the bidding of Aipac and Israel, it would be magnanimous of Israel to allow us to vote in their elections as a real indication of the indestructible knot of Gordius that keeps us so tight..

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- An Israeli missile flattened a two-story house in a residential neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 11 civilians, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical officials said, as Israel expanded a military offensive to target homes of wanted militants.

The attack, which Israel said targeted a militant, was the single deadliest incident of the five-day-old Israeli operation and hiked a toll Sunday that was already the highest number of civilians killed in one day, according to Gaza medics. The bloodshed is likely to raise international pressure for a cease-fire, with Egypt taking the leading role in mediating between Israel and Hamas.

President Barack Obama said he had been in touch with the leaders of Israel, Egypt, and Turkey in an effort to halt the fighting. "We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours," he said.

Obama cautioned against a potential Israeli ground invasion into Gaza, warning it could only deepen its death toll. At the same time, he blamed Palestinian militants for starting the round of fighting by raining rockets onto Israel, and he defended Israel's right to defend itself.

"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said in Thailand at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.

An Israeli envoy arrived in Cairo on Sunday and held talks with Egyptian officials on a ceasefire, according to Egyptian security officials and Nabil Shaath, a top aide of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who was in the Egyptian capital.

There's plenty to blame both Israel and the Palestineans for over there.

However, in this case I sympathize with the Israelis. If someone attacks you, continues to attack you, you respond; and while you may do it in progressive stages to try to minimize the deaths, especially of innocents, any country has to defend itself and in the end do what it takes.

That being said, the Israelis have the 10th strongest fighting force in the world, I see no reason for the US to be dragged into this.

We had a similar experience in the 60’s when the black ghettos revolted, rioted, killed and destroyed American cities. Whites were targeted and murdered, their property burned. We were reminded, wisely so, that if you continually repressed someone you should expect unwanted and unpleasant consequences.

Many of the riots were instigated by radicals, criminals and trouble makers. There is no good end to this without taking it to an individual and personal level and removing the blinders.

The English were certainly a more benign occupying force in Northern Ireland than the Israeli’s in and around Gaza. The Irish claimed their ancient Celtic lands and never stopped the violence until a just and equitable settlement was made. What other outcome should be expected with Israel and the Palestinians and why is it our problem?

Because unchecked violence spreads until it consumes itself,, otherwise known as human nature. Their "book" doesn't help. (Neither does ours, ...)

But right here and right now, at this place and time, it isn't our problem. Priorities. USA must navigate into the future, where a very different world is waiting. The Dems are doing that better than the Republicans who will have to pry their cold dead hands from a past world that can't meet the challenges of tomorrow's technology. Offensive as it is to many, government will have to be a part of that future configuration. (So will the generals and the military.) At the risk of being trite, "can't stop the signal, Mal." Anyway I have to go.

You cite underlying causes which everyone knows about. Those underlying causes will, IMO, assure that there is never any kind of a peace settlement between the two parties short of one dictated by a decisive war.

What we are talking about now are actions taken in response not to words, not to world opinion, not to slogans or protests, but to rockets and bombs. A country has to defend itself.

At the same time you criticize Israel for defending itself you offer understanding to Iran for threatening to do the same thing.

The Israelis left Gaza. They didn't have all that much presence there to begin with, but they have been gone for some time. Left their greenhouses as a parting gift for the paleolithics, which they, of course, promptly trashed.

DRRSun Nov 18, 01:07:00 PM ESTI took the long meandering path to this point: blaming the generals is invigorating and seemingly well deserved, but the entirety of the Long War of Attrition concept pretty much condemned anyone with any assignment of consequence - military or civilian.

I think the "goodness of democracy" argument has been abandoned, at least temporarily, but the twin pillars of Israel and Oil seem to alternate as lightning rods for violence in the ME.

I raised the prospect as a hypothetical at BC that, had the State of Israel been located somewhere else - Texas or North Dakota, violence might have declined, at a minimum, the problem would have reduced to simpler form. Talk about lumpentariat springing to life.

IF Obama ever bothered to take classes in History or Religion he would have learned:

1. There will Never be a true Peace between a Zionist state of Israel and its Islamic Stateswhere Qur’an and Shariah rule or the Islamic Republics where mullahs or Ayatollahs rule.

Indeed, the 19th century Zionist movement made a huge error: forgoing a new Jewish Zionist homeland in South America, for a Biblical Holy Land alleged to be given them by God. It was a very foolish choice. Israel’s neighbors will not stop until Israel is removed from that land.

2. Another lesson is equally clear: Islam is a Religion of Jihad. Islam, in the Qur’an, the Hadith, and all versions of the Shariah, Shafii, Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi agree: Islam cannot be at peace until all Pagan, non prophetic monotheist religions have been Eliminated. Judaism and Christianity must convert to or of subordinate themselves to Islam. Islam is a Religion of World Conquest. A religion in search of a Global Religion: a world where all are Muslims.

Obama must either pledge the US to Defend Israel, or advise Israel to either: leave Israel for a New Zion or re-fight a Masada with the Arab nations--with the same outcome. They lose.

Netanyahu and Petraeus were not "best buddies." It seems that humanity will always be dealing with "the south side of town" where passions run deep - dare I say - primal.

I agree with Rufus on this one as well: "It's China Town Jake." And I am tired of it - and the wounded soldiers who return to civilian life minus an arm or a leg or a crucial part of their psyche. Nasty times. Self help has to attain a certain level of achievement before external help can obtain. IOW, persuasion over tyranny.

And definitely not buying the State of (or the idea of) Israel as Humanity's last hope.

Judging by the long faces on money-market fund lobbyists last week, we're starting to think Washington might reform an industry that received a federal rescue in 2008. On Tuesday, the federal Financial Stability Oversight Council proposed one rule change that would protect taxpayers in the next crisis, plus two others that may not.

The council's "Alternative One" for reform is the best and the simplest: Allow the share prices of money-market mutual funds to float, like the prices of other funds. Since money funds are not insured deposits, investors should understand that they are buying securities that can lose value.

President Barack Obama said Sunday that Israel has “every right” to defend itself against missile attacks by militants inside Gaza but warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians.

"Let's understand what the precipitating event here that's causing the current crisis and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory but in areas that are populated, and there's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Obama said at press conference in Thailand at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.

ONE evening in September 2011, Ali Rahimi, a 27-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was hanging around with friends outside his building in central Athens when more than a dozen Greeks approached. Several men set upon Mr. Rahimi, one with a knife.

...

NIKOS KATAPODIS, 69, can see the crossroads where his family has lived since 1863. A bald, chain-smoking funeral-home owner, Mr. Katapodis describes the Greek government with a string of expletives.

The flood of immigrants over the last decade created ghettos in central Athens, he explains. Crime rates rose, property values dropped and bars appeared on second-floor windows.

Of the 21 WHO medical clinics in Gaza, 11 are closed because they were in areas targeted by air strikes. The head of the WHO Gaza office, Mahmoud Daher, recounted that the windows of his house were blown out and the interior destroyed by an explosion as he and his family sheltered in the cellar.

The bombing and shelling takes a psychological toll as well. The Gaza Community Mental Health programme found during the 2009 war that children were affected by bed-wetting, nightmares, sleeplessness and behavioural disorders.

Some have argued that even in the worst-case scenario, a nuclear Iran could be deterred. Yet this ignores the immensely costly, complex and tension-ridden realities of Cold War-era deterrence, the apocalyptic strain in the Iranian theocracy and the near-certainty that several regional powers will go nuclear if Iran does. Once nuclear balances are forged in conditions where tensions are no longer purely bilateral, as in the Cold War, and in still-developing countries whose technology to prevent accidents is rudimentary, the likelihood of some nuclear exchange will mount dramatically.

Are you Anonymous or Anonymous? I mean you kind of sound like Anonymous but how can we tell for sure? I mean you could be taking on Anonymous' word patterns just to convince us that you are Anonymous instead of Anonymous or even Anonymous. Hell, you could even be Anonymous.

"Of the 21 WHO medical clinics in Gaza, 11 are closed because they were in areas targeted by air strikes. The head of the WHO Gaza office, Mahmoud Daher, recounted that the windows of his house were blown out and the interior destroyed by an explosion as he and his family sheltered in the cellar."

---

I bet the innocent muzzies didn't have a single missile set up adjacent to them Hospitals.

At another border crossing, the Erez Terminal, 26 Gaza patients and their escorts entered Israel in order to receive medical treatment of the highest order. In the past, Palestinian patients from Gaza were at times in surgery wards in Israeli hospitals amidst rocket fire.

They don't need no stinkin' hospitals. Just go to Israel for treatment.

How far does Israel go in maintaining humanitarian standards that no other country would duplicate during armed conflict?

Here's one answer: On Nov. 18, while Tel Aviv and other population centers were under rocket attacks, Israel transferred 80 truckloads of food and medical equipment into Gaza, according to an official announcement. Israeli border personnel facilitated transfer of the convoys at great risk to themselves. The crossings have come under repeated attacks by Hamas.

At another border crossing, the Erez Terminal, 26 Gaza patients and their escorts entered Israel in order to receive medical treatment of the highest order. In the past, Palestinian patients from Gaza were at times in surgery wards in Israeli hospitals amidst rocket fire.

Israel worked with the Palestinian Authority and members of the international community to facilitate these humanitarian transfers.

In a government statement following the transfers, authorities said that "while Israel is committed to providing continued assistance, it is subjected to the limitations created by continuous rocket fire and attacks on the part of Hamas and other extremist groups in Gaza. Rockets endanger the staff manning the crossings and often hinder or prevent the transfer of goods.

"The IDF will continue to take measures to thwart terrorist attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip, while distinguishing between the terrorists and uninvolved civilians." Mainstream media aren't likely to give prominent coverage to this humanitarian event. It doesn't fit their agenda.

Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers.

(Reuters) - Former CIA Director General David Petraeus has hired a top Washington lawyer to help him navigate the fallout from a career-ending affair, Reuters has confirmed.

The lawyer, Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly, is known for negotiating book deals for the political elite, from President Barack Obama to one-time vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Barnett will help Petraeus as he exits government, Reuters confirmed. The news was first reported by Politico, which said that no book is planned.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice Department and Congress are investigating Petraeus' conduct over the extra-marital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The former four-star general has said his resignation was solely because of the affair and that he did not give classified information to Broadwell.

Barnett has been a partner at Williams & Connolly in Washington for 34 years, according to a biography of him posted on the firm's website. In that time, he has built an unconventional practice representing best-selling authors, political leaders, television news correspondents and other high-profile clients.

In addition to Obama and Palin, other authors he has represented include novelist Mary Higgins Clark and entertainer Barbra Streisand.

He has also helped former government officials from across the political spectrum navigate their return to private life, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, and former members of Congress.

What's not to like? You got your food, your heat, your air conditioning, your medical, and you can hoot and screech to your heart's content about Allah and his book and killing every last Jew on the planet and play the victim and become a martyr perhaps with all the rewards that entails and teach your children to hate forever.

The pros and cons of a diet including meat may be the subject of debate for nutritionists, but one Indian school textbook has made its position very clear – eating meat will make you lie, steal and commit sex crimes.

...

Despite a strong culture of vegetarianism and a religious taboo over beef-eating, Indians are consuming more and more meat as the country’s economy grows and consumers become better-travelled.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation last year said Indians’ per capita consumption of meat was running at 5.0-5.5 kilograms a year, the highest since it began compiling records.

I guess I must be a Jacksonian of a type, though I didn't realize it until now. Perhaps the Israelis ought to just clobber the bastards instead of worrying so much, and providing the food, electricity, medical that they do.

President Obama's historic visit to Myanmar, marking his return to Asia only days after his re-election, is rooted in a strategic move to shape new relationships as part of a larger shadow-boxing match with China over influence in the region.

Mr. Obama's trip to Asia, which also will include visits to Thailand and Cambodia, comes in the immediate wake of a change in China's top leadership, which has added an element of uncertainty to relations between the superpowers. For Mr. Obama, the trip represents a fresh effort to make good on his promise to shift U.S. attention toward Asia...

Pick up the Sunday, Nov. 18 edition of the Washington Post and you'll find a lengthy, front-page wrap-up about Israel's antiterrorist counteroffensive in Gaza -- with three perfect examples of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel bias. all within eight paragraphs of each other ("GAZA CLASH WIDENS -- Israel expands air assault against Hamas, says Tel Aviv-bound rocket was intercepted" by Karin Brulliard and Abigail Hauslohner).

Here they are by the numbers:

1) Brulliard and Hauslohner devote half a dozen paragraphs to a heart-tugging, up-close and personal account of two Gaza teachers awakened by the family's windows shattering and their walls bursting open. The house next door, which belonged to a Hamas commander, sustained a direct hit. One of the teachers "frantically dug his five children out of the rubble." The other teacher "rushed from room to room, crying and gathering her children's clothing, school bags and dolls." The Post quotes her as saying again and again, "Where are we going to go? The Israelis are responsible. They are the enemy of God. What did we do? Did we carry any missiles? Did we launch any rockets?" All very poignant. But what about similar scenes in Israel, where Hamas rockets by the hundreds have been pounding civilian targets from Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Netivot to the proximity of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? Do Brulliard and Hauslohner devote as much space to cameos of Israelis, especially children, suffering from shock and post-traumatic stress? Does their suffering also rate half a dozen paragraphs of sympathetic coverage? If not six paragraphs, how about three... or maybe just one paragraph? Or a single despairing quote? But in the entire Post article, there isn't a single sentence depicting Israelis frantically rushing to shelters as sirens blare at any time of day -- or the traumas left in their wake. Nothing, nada. As Shakespeare might have protested: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?"

2. Brulliard and Hauslohner, writing about Israeli air strikes that demolished a Hamas police building and the headquarters of Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, conclude that "Israel appeared to be channeling new efforts toward Hamas civilian institutions." Hamas headquarters a "civilian institution"? It is nothing of the sort. The terrorist group has a unitary command-and-control apparatus and infrastructure. This is where all the terrorist plots are hatched under single command. But the Post, long known for its predilection to sanitize Hamas, presents them as "civilian" facilities that presumably should remain untouched. How touching -- for beleaguered Hamas, with Brulliard and Hauslohner to the rescue of this terrorist outfit.

3) And what about fatalities on either side? Here's the article's take: "The death toll in Gaza rose to 45 by Saturday evening, Health Ministry officials said. Three Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza." Forty-five dead "Palestinians" versus three dead "Israelis." The numerical comparison, however, is highly misleading. It's apples and oranges. On the Israel side, the three fatalities were civilians -- a reflection of Hamas aiming its massive rocket barrages at civilian populations. On the Gaza side, however, Israeli air strikes are carefully and deliberately aimed at terrorists, their arms caches, ammunition, and rocket launchers. Yes, there are collateral fatalities, but only because Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza hide amid civilians and use them as ''human shields.'' Estimates of combatant-versus-noncombatant fatalities in Gaza are beginning to trickle in. Early figures show most of them were combatants engaged in terrorist operations. To bundle civilian and terrorist fatalities into a single statistic leaves readers with a false impression that perhaps most or all of those killed Gazans were civilians -- the very opposite of what's really happening there. Bottom line: Washington Post readers beware. This isn't kosher journalism.

Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers

"Let's understand that the precipitating event here … was an ever-escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory but in areas that are populated, and there's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders," Mr Obama said, speaking in Thailand at the start of a three-day tour of Asia.

The United States, he said, was "fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself". But he said he would prefer that this happen without "a ramping up of military activity in Gaza".

At a press conference in Thailand, Mr Obama issued a rebuke to Egypt and Turkey. "What I said to President [Mohamed Morsi of Egypt] and Prime Minister Erdogan [of Turkey] is those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognise that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future."

"A few lewd exhibitionists are really ruining it for the rest of us," he said. "It's my time to come out now to present myself in a light and show what true nudity is all about so people can separate the difference between what a nudist is and an exhibitionist is."

Rufus doesn't want any questions asked, much less answered. He just want it go go away.

I want to hear from General Ham.

This comes from an interview with Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz who sits on two Homeland Security subcommittees relaying the responses from General Carter Ham heading up the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) who had direct responsibility for the situation.

General Ham told Chaffetz that the forces were available, but that no order to use them was given. Defense Secretary Panetta had claimed that the refusal to use force had come from him, General Dempsey and General Ham.

General Ham appears to have broken with that story and is taking no responsibility for the decision not to bail out the consulate and the Navy SEALS.

John Svengali · Caution should be applied in not jumping to conclusions and reliance upon internet rumors and conversations. That said, there is AMPLE information in plain view and not in dispute that points not only to a lack of leadership by Obama and his civilian chain of command but to a pattern and practice of lying to the American people, covering it up, and creating a straw man with the Mohammad film-maker.

The administration's negligence is in at least two areas, preparation and failure to rescue. The hard part to believe about any presidential administration is that they would be so completely inept in failing to provide adequate security - even denying requests for security - but what's worse is that they knowingly denied help in the midst of an actual attack. How could anyone be so cold and insensitive to fly off to Las Vegas for a political fundraiser immediately after this attack and killings in Libya, as Obama did? It is not hyperbole to characterize the negligence - according to some - as criminal.

The subsequent cover-up using high level officials and the president in his U.N. address and his interview double-speak to steer focus to an unrelated anti-Muslim film is completely over the top and sinister. People should be troubled by the ease and comfort the man has in lying and perpetuating the false film story over the span of two weeks, only ceasing when the story fell apart when fact was interjected. Obama still tries to hide behind the fig leaf of not commenting due to the matter being investigated.

Let's start with Benghazi. As a writer of fiction, read by dozens, I love a good conspiracy. If you give me enough time, I can explain how Hurricane Sandy was directly caused by the introduction of New Coke years before, and how Morgan Freeman, the inventor of the teleprompter, is actually Barack Obama's true father.

Obama betrayed us and now it's up to Petraeus to save us. To use a crass analogy, the entire episode in Libya was an abortion from the start. We all know the President's preference for abortion -- partial or otherwise -- funded by the wealthy who are asked to pay a little bit more.

Why did we have a consulate in Benghazi and what was the purpose of the CIA annex? Was the annex a clandestine CIA prison and was the consulate arming Syrian rebels? Ambassador Stevens' last meeting was with a delegation from Turkey. What was the purpose of this meeting and why couldn't it have taken place in Tripoli, where our embassy is located?

The administration not only left our staff in Libya exposed and unprotected, they even removed a sixteen-man special security team mere weeks before the attack on 9/11. Why?

This administration not only refused repeated requests for more security prior to the terrorist assault, they ignored desperate pleas for help from our people while the attack was underway.

Afterward, they lied and tried to cover up the whole despicable incident by blaming it on an internet video no one had even seen.

Petraeus, ever the good soldier, initially supported the meme in comments to a congressional committee on September 13. But... Biden telegraphed the president's plan at the VP debate when he blamed it all on the "intelligence community."

Petraeus was to be the patsy (I feel like Oliver Stone). After all, he was only there in the first place because of the emperor Barack's desire to keep any potential political threat as close as possible. Why do you think poor Hillary has been on a plane travelling to the middle of nowhere from virtually the day she became the secretary of state?

Being a good soldier is one thing, but accepting responsibility for your boss's failures is an entirely different matter. A CIA spokesman released a statement declaring that the agency did not deny permission for an attempted military rescue of our staff while they were being attacked. The implication being that leaving our people to die was a decision made by the President -- which anyone with half a brain already knew. It's a shame half-brains are in such short supply these days.

Obama fancies himself a master politician. And perhaps, he is right, since he just won reelection with literally (as Biden would say) not a single successful policy in his first term -- upped the ante. He told his errant CIA head to accept responsibility, or his affair with that broad could well be exposed.

Petraeus, a national hero, and man of honor -- and make no mistake, it takes guts and honor to destroy your life in service of some belief -- resigned instead, taking the unusual step of admitting to his affair in his resignation letter (no statement saying "I want to spend more time with family" for him).

Obama, then realizing he was losing control, floated the court-martial plan. In other words, "fold, or there might be jail time."

And, that's where we stand today. But... I would like to make one observation. Barack Obama is playing political poker with a master tactician. And who knows? Maybe our king has an ace up his sleeve and can compel Petraeus to concede, but I would doubt it.

My money is on Petraeus winning this confrontation, with devastatingly truthful testimony that lays responsibility for the deaths of Stevens, Smith, Doherty, and Woods directly at Obama's feet, where it belongs. His testimony, may even take down the Obama presidency.

More than negligence and incompetence, the murders of four Americans at Benghazion 9/11 were the direct result of dereliction of duty by President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Panetta, and this case willimmortalize forever in the annals of infamy the feckless, ineffectual, weak andcowardly example of “leadership” that Americans yoked themselves with in 2008;twice after the initial “critic”/ Critical Incident Flash, the White Housereceived requests for military assistance during the attack, and twice theydenied those requests. A full explanation is owed America concerning thesedecisions, especially in light of the fact that the Obama administration viewedthe attack through a drone camera in real time.

The intricacy of the Ansar terrorist attack proves that this entire tragic episode was a pre-planned attack. They had positioned blocking and kill or capture teams between the CIA Annex and the U.S. Consulate. They had even thought ahead and positioned anambush to surprise any U.S. “quick response” teams that might arrive, and theyhad strategically positioned mortars within range of the Annex. Something thisintricate is not built from a “spontaneous protest”.

Twenty minutes into the attack on the U.S. Consulate at 4:05pm Washington time – 10:05pm Benghazi time, the State Department’s regional office reported that the Consulate was under attack and that Ambassador Stevens was supposedly safe with the 17th of February militia providing security support, but we now know they deserted once the battle escalated; “Update 1″ at 4:54 Washington time reported the firing hadstopped and a “response team” was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel.

The “response team” consisted of Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty who disobeyed their superior’s orders to “stand down” when they heard the first shots at 9:40pm. They made approximately a one mile run from the CIA Annex to the Consulate, and upon arriving the firing lull rapidly turned into a fierce firefight to evacuate approximately 35 employees to the CIA Annex and simply survive. They eventually did arrive at the Annex with the body of Sean Smith, killed early in the attack, but Ambassador Stevens had been separated from them; these men were in Libya under CIA contract to track down surface to air missiles used by the islamofascist groups, and they were under no obligation to assist, defend or protect Ambassador Stevens, and yet, they ran headlong into danger!

An hour after the attack, Obama, Panetta and VP Biden met in the Oval Office, and soon after military assets were being moved: Eight from Special Operations were sent from Tripoli, a Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) of Marines from Rota, Spain was sent to guard the Tripoli U.S. Embassy, F-16s and Apache helicopters never left Aviano Airbase in Italy, and two U.S. Navy destroyers already in the Mediterranean were positioned off the Libyan coast but left dormant.

Pathetic is the only way to describe the administration’s assertion that they needed the Libyan government’s permission to enter Libya’s airspace. What government?… the militias were still running everything… And the U.S. doesn’t ask “mother, may I” before crossing a border to save their own. What bravery our fighting men showed during WWII, Korea and Vietnam when the code was “leave no man behind,” and now what cowardice is apparent within this despicable Obama administration!

Lt Col Tony Schaffer (Retired Army) explains that the U.S. planned the invasion of Grenada in 1983 in six hours, and he added, “We could have had a strike team on the ground in Benghazi in thirty minutes or less to protect, assist and extract our personnel under attack … the video (from Benghazi) is damning, and it needs to get out for the public to see.”

Former CIA Officer Gary Burston asserted, “President Obama is a master of trying to deflect and change the subject… personnel in Benghazi must have been screaming for help. There were options for the administration to help and intervene. They could have sent an AC 130 Talon with computerized machine guns. All it would have taken is one pass. It would have beaten the attackers back. Then they could have sent in a Quick Reaction Force.” Several Teier 1 teams were within an hour of the attack site, and they would have made an enormous difference in the fighting that spanned eight hours.

Incredible heroism was displayed by Woods and Dogherty as they fought to save the Consulate staff members during a second wave of attacks. Between the initial firefight at the Consulate and the assault on the Annex, they fought for over six hours, and,along with others, they were able to withstand against over 200 Ansar al-Shariah/ Islamic Maghreb terrorists, while also taking heavy fire from RPGs, mortars and a 23mm anti-aircraft weapon!

At 4:00am… six hours and twenty minutes after the initial attack… former Navy SEALs Glenn A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods were killed at the CIA Annex by a mortar round. Their machine gun was covered in blood, and gives testimony that they fought on after being wounded.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham stated, “It is disappointing to hear that our national command authorities failed to reinforce the Consulate with timely air assets, and that a consulate located in one of the most dangerous regions in the world was so unsecured.”

Just think how different the outcome would have been had the Consulate been protected by just one platoon of Marines, all sniper trained. Obama had actionable intelligence explicitly showing a high probability of an imminent attack, but a year ago he failed to devote resources to secure the facility. He had no plan for such asituation as this, when our people were depending on a rapid response. And…Obama’s failures and dereliction of duty as Commander-in-Chief caused four good,decent American Patriots to lose their lives!

Through the lens of the enigma of war the truth has manifested itself through the ugliness, stupidity and cowardice of Obama, Clinton, Panetta and others in the administration who had real time images of Americans facing slaughter: and, with numerous military assets nearby, they decided to sit safely in the White House Situation Room and leave these fine Americans in the lurch, while revealing their strength ofconviction and principles, Glenn A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods’ distinguishedand brilliant actions illustrated the best of military tradition and the American spirit, as they defended U.S. interests, placed America ahead of self and died with honor so others would live! We will not let their courage be hidden or their sacrifice diminished… We will not forget!

Al Qaeda, a globally arrayed group whose leadership arranges funding, sets training standards to inculcate tactical expertise, and provides the overall vision wrapped around jihad with the ultimate goal of establishing a global Islamist caliphate, continues as an immediate and substantial threat. Its diffuse organizational structure renders it a multiheaded hydra, difficult to decapitate with isolated drone strikes. Largely autonomous local affiliates select and reconnoiter targets, plan and carry out attacks. Osama bin Laden's vision was that al Qaeda be a "message" and not an organization like the Hamas or Hezbollah. Al Qaeda, now under the experienced leadership of Egyptian terrorist Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, exists to inspire the strategic vision.

Recent attacks on U.S. embassies in the Islamic world and the coordinated operation against the Benghazi consulate on the night of September 11, 2012, prove al Qaeda is not "on its heels." The original administration claims about the attack on the Benghazi consulate were politically motivated and disingenuous. Even David Petraeus, recently resigned director of the CIA, initially supported the administration's claim that the consulate was sacked by a "flash mob" rather than terrorists conducting a planned and concerted attack. His forthcoming testimony is critical because the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, connected at the hip in intelligence matters, were forewarned of the attack.

While the Cairo embassy episode typified an al Qaeda tactic by using the obscure YouTube video to enflame the Arab street, on the day before the fatal attack at Benghazi, al Zawahiri warned that the attack was coming. The only logical conclusion is that the administration covered up the truth. At approximately 4:07 p.m. Washington time a "flash" message was passed through INTELINK, the secure intelligence warning system. Since it involved an attack on a U.S. ambassador -- with a consulate being American soil -- it went to the White House, and presumably, President Barack Obama. The "fog of war" (an 18th-century term derived from cannon and musket smoke obscuring the battlefield) excuse simply doesn't wash considering the clarity of videos already available.Worse, there were prior warnings and indicators pointing to a coming event. After the Benghazi chapter of al Qaeda blew a hole in the wall of the U.S. consulate on June 6, they left leaflets promising "more attacks against American interests" in retaliation for drone attacks in the Derna area of Libya. Simultaneously, they claimed responsibility for the earlier attacks on the Red Cross in Benghazi. On September 10, Dr. Zawahiri posted a 42-minute video that he said was recorded during Ramadan, specifically to be released on the anniversary of 9/11. The video claimed a pending attack would avenge the death of Abu Yahaya al-Libi, a Libyan killed in a drone attack in Pakistan on June 4, 2012. Al-Libi's brother serves in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. In the video, Zawahiri rhetorically asked what should be done about the death of al-Libi and the answer was: "Fight and kill the crusaders ... do not let him down."

The June 6 attack on the consulate, two days after the drone killed al-Libi, was videotaped and released a week later, showing the initial attack on the consulate wall, footage of Osama bin Laden, images of Zawahiri, and also of the tumbling Trade Center towers. The Koran requires that a warning be presented to the victim but does not specify a time frame. Whether or not the victim understands or heeds the warning is irrelevant. The Zawahiri video released hours before the attack met Koranic requirements.

Furthermore, in the days before the attack, a London-based spokesman for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group publicly stated that the Libyan jihadists were actively gathering information on the activities of diplomatic missions in Libya. Finally, in his September 10/11 video, Zawahiri warned al-Libi's "blood is calling, urging, and inciting you to fight and kill crusaders."

Any intelligence analyst would know the significance of these indicators. Since they involved a pending attack on a U.S. ambassador, only unimaginable negligence on the part of a multitude of intelligence warning officers who follow established protocols or incompetence by Middle Eastern terrorism experts would have prevented this information from being briefed at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Intelligence officers at the Foggy Bottom, the CIA, the National Military Command Center, and the White House are experienced and the best in their fields.

Furthermore, the Zawahiri warnings, clearly stated on the Internet, make more sense than an obscure video floating around for months that no one saw or paid much attention to until President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began touting it as the inspiration behind a Benghazi lynch mob that never existed. Was an AC-130 Spectre gunship, a sophisticated weapons platform carrying a wide variety of deadly options capable of accurate enough to minimize the possibility of collateral damage, dispatched and then recalled? If so, who recalled it? Why weren't F-16s sent from the base at Aviano, Italy? At most, it requires 30 to 45 minutes to fuel and arm the aircraft and brief the pilots and another 45 minutes to fly to Benghazi.

Above all, what did the president know and when did he know it? David Petraeus can lift the fog shrouding what happened at Benghazi.

Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for the Middle East & terrorism with The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. A retired Air Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Director of Research at the U.S. Army's Strategic Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught courses in military history, national security, and international and domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism.

Worse, there were prior warnings and indicators pointing to a coming event. After the Benghazi chapter of al Qaeda blew a hole in the wall of the U.S. consulate on June 6, they left leaflets promising "more attacks against American interests" in retaliation for drone attacks in the Derna area of Libya.

The Koran requires that a warning be presented to the victim but does not specify a time frame.

Please, Bob, why waste time trying to offer any sense to the rat? He picks on the most trivial factoid he can find, twists it in his own special way, and struggles to make the point that it is significant.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.